"C'mon, Pig." Nate urged his new orc servant forward as he started walking back towards the village.

"Urah." Pig grunted and obeyed, Dane ax in hand as he followed behind his master.

"It's really following what you say..." Miyu remarked in awe. "Can you maintain control indefinitely?"

"Yes, as long as I refill him with dark mana from time to time. The more mana I put into him, the more memories and combat experience he retains. So I just put as much as I can." he explained. "The mana I put in him can also be used to heal his wounds. As you can see."

Miyu ran up beside Nate and then glanced behind her to look at Pig's body. Its eyes, legs, and stomach looked good as new. If it weren't for the hollow look in its eyes and the black smoke radiating out of its orifices, it would look like an ordinary orc. Or so she assumed, since she didn't get a look at the thing when it was still unharmed.

"That said, I don't think I can control more than one... no, two. Any more is above my skill grade. I need to practice more I guess."

"I see..." Miyu nodded in understanding, thanking her past self for not choosing Black Magic. Although it looked quite useful, controlling a corpse was a bit too creepy for her. Looking at the orc made her remember something else, though. "Oh, right. You're wearing the talisman, right? Can you tell me how it feels? I might buy one eventually after all."

"Oh. I don't actually know yet... hold this. Pig, come stand here." Nate took off the amulet and gave it to Miyu, then ordered Pig to take a stance in front of him. Then, with all his strength, he punched Pig's incredibly tough abdomen. Retracting his fist that was a bit sore, Nate remarked, "Okay, time to try it with the amulet."

He punched Pig again, this time while wearing the amulet.

"What the--!" Nate's eyes almost popped out when he witnessed his hand pierce through Pig's stomach, splattering his helmet with blood. Some of it had even shot through the gaps, blinding him in the left eye.

"Hiii!" Miyu turned away from the gruesome sight.

She'd killed goblins and even participated in killing Pig when it was still alive, but watching a hand punch through skin and flesh was just a bit too revolting to look at. Furthermore, they weren't in battle, so she wasn't prepared for the gruesome sight.

"Oh, shit... hey, can you help me wash this off?" Nate held out his right hand to Miyu as he took off his helmet with his left. He wanted to wipe the blood that had gotten on his face too. "Jesus Christ. I did not expect my fist to just go through him like that. What the hell."

"Y-yeah... that was quite something." Miyu tried to not look at Pig as she conjured a floating ball of water for Nate to use. "Can you uhm... heal it, now?"

"Oh, yeah. My bad." Nate apologized. Using the link between them, he funneled mana into Pig's body as he washed his hands of blood and mush. By the time he was done cleaning off his face, Pig looked as good as new. "You should definitely buy an amulet."

"Yes. It seems quite useful."

"Yep... oh wait. I just thought of a good idea." Nate smirked as he took off the amulet, and gave it to Pig. "Wear this."

"Grah." Pig grunted as he took the amulet and put it on.

"Oh god..." Miyu gasped as she realized what Nate had in mind.

"Yosh, run over there as fast as you can then punch the wall." Nate pointed to the cliff wall on their right.

"Uraahh!" Pig grunted as he began to sprint, causing the ground to shake with each step.

"Pretty fast." Nate nodded. He wanted more information on this guy's fighting abilities. Even though they'd fought, it wasn't like Nate had the leisure to thoroughly examine Pig's capabilities at the time.

"I'd be terrified if something that big came running at me that fast." Miyu remarked as she watched Pig's back.

It was scary when they were fighting it, but now that it was on their side, she felt greatly reassured.

"ORAAAH!" With a loud bellow, Pig, who'd finally reached the wall, punched out with all his strength, its arm a blur.

BOOM!

""Woah."" the two gasped as they watched Pig's entire arm shatter from the impact. It succeeded in creating a fairly large crater in the wall, pieces of rock flew everywhere. Nate grabbed Miyu and pressed her down on the ground, using his back to protect her. He also lowered his head just in case.

Luckily, aside from a pea-sized stone hitting his left ass-cheek, nothing happened to them.

"Sorry for just grabbing you like that." Nate apologized. Although he didn't really feel like he did anything wrong, there was nothing wrong with apologizing anyway.

"Oh, no. Actually, thank you." Miyu waved her hands in denial then bowed in thanks. "But that was quite a punch."

"True. Pretty sure he wasn't that strong when we fought, so it's clear that the amulet works on him." Nate nodded in satisfaction. "I'm gonna have him do all the fighting for me. I'll be a backline mage from now on. Though I'll be ready to charge in together with Pig if the situation calls for it."

"Hm. That does seem to be the most effective strategy, considering your superpower." Miyu agreed. She then sent a look toward the slingshot on Nate's hip. "I guess you won't be needing that then."

"True." he nodded as he ran a hand through the slingshot. It had served him quite well, despite their short time together. Then he remembered Miyu's vision. "Maybe I'll give it to one of the people with us in your dream."

"Mm. Maybe." Miyu nodded. Her smile suddenly turned to a frown as she realized something. "But still, it's taking them an awful lot of time to get here..."

"I actually traveled quite a distance y'know?" Nate clarified as he used more of his dark mana to regenerate Pig's arm. "I only made it to the village so fast cuz I didn't sleep or eat. Normal people would've taken a few days, maybe a week."

"Oh, that's right. It just seemed like so much time passed because of everything that happened, but I suppose it's only been two days since you've been here."

"Yep." Nate made sure Pig was in a good state, then turned toward the direction of the village. "Let's go. The others might be worried."

"Don't prank them again, okay?" Miyu's brows furrowed as she warned.

"I won't, I won't." Nate chuckled wryly as he stepped forward. "I've learned my lesson."

He planned to have Pig wait near the entrance while they explained things to the others. Nate didn't want another clown fiesta, after all. Even though he found the thought somewhat amusing.

"Good." Miyu nodded, then followed after him, with Pig bringing up the rear.

A man, a woman, and a two feet tall humanoid pig monster steadily made their way out of the valley.

*****

"You really did something crazy..." Ming remarked dryly as he gazed at the orc standing stock-still in the middle of the village.

Even though Nate and Miyu explained things before having Pig waltz into the village, people were still shocked by the appearance of a monster. But since they knew that Nate was the one in control, shock turned into curiosity and wonder instead of fear. Everybody in the village had now come to look upon Pig's visage, as he stood there... doing nothing.

Those who did not come to join the battle were horrified at the idea that the expedition members were fighting monsters like these, though the truth was that it had only been fought by Nate and Miyu.

Nate caught sight of a man with a spear. His spear, if he remembered it correctly. Now that he no longer had to use his slingshot to deal damage from range, and the Dane ax was returned to Pig's hands, he felt like he needed a new polearm. Nate walked over and held his hand out.

"That's my spear, yeah? Thanks for holding onto it."

"Aww..." the man reluctantly returned the borrowed weapon.

Nate hefted the spear in his hand as he inspected the spearhead. There were no visible damages, and the tip looked sharp enough. In any case, the strength he obtained from his amulet would make it easy to pierce things even with blunt objects. He chuckled when he noticed the man seemed somewhat dejected.

"Don't worry about it. Didn't we get a bunch of new stuff from the hobgobs? Just take a spear from there."

"Well, that's true..." the man seemed to cheer up at that, leaving to get a replacement.

"It's not like we're gonna fight right now, so why is he so eager to get a new one...?" Nate shook his armored head as he tapped his spear on the ground.

"..."

"..."

Miyu and Ayumi looked at each other, nonverbally debating who should point out the hypocrisy in their leader's statement.

"Hey, how many of these can you control?" Ming asked, eyes still glued to the orc.

"Two." Nate answered, then he added, "If I try hard."

"That's less than I thought," Ayumi remarked. "But I guess that makes sense. If you could've controlled more, you'd've come back with all the hobgoblins as zombies."

"Yeah... huh?" Miyu tilted her head. "I don't think there were any hobgoblin corpses when we went to check. Or am I wrong?"

"No, you're right. I didn't see any corpses either." Nate stroked his chin in thought. Initially, they'd attributed the disappearance of corpses to goblins scavenging corpses, but this time they hadn't even met any goblins at all. The lantern also made sure that they weren't just secretly laying an ambush from the side. "Wait, could it be that the ones taking the corpses weren't goblins...?"

"Like what, ghosts?" Ming chuckled dryly.

"Creepy! I don't like this! I'm leaving!" Ayumi ran away.

Miyu scratched her cheek awkwardly. "Sorry about her. She doesn't deal with scary stuff well. Since it's getting late, I'll take my leave as well."

"Yeah, see you." Nate waved his hands, then smirked. "Go take that bath you've been wanting to take for so long. Or rather, a shower, since this place doesn't have a tub."

"Don't mind if I do~♫." Miyu replied in a sing-song voice filled with happiness as she walked off.

It was just Nate and Ming now, if you ignored the bystanders observing Pig curiously.

"Ming, did anybody new come by while we were gone?"

"New...? Nope. Wait, lemme make sure." Ming walked toward a brown-haired woman who Nate recognized was someone who chose to stay in camp. After asking something, Ming came back and shook his head. "Just asked Judy, that's the brown-haired girl over there, if anybody new came. She hangs around near the entrance all the time, so if a new arrival came along, she'd be one of the first people to notice."

"And she didn't see anybody."

"Yep. Nobody."

"Haah..." Nate sighed. Even though he'd told Miyu not to worry, he was still concerned about those other three people who weren't here yet. Going out and looking for them would be unproductive, though, since the forest was just too vast.

Nate racked his brain for any other way he could make it easier for them to find their way here.

Should he get the people who choose to remain to go look for survivors? Perhaps he could offer them a reward of some kind for every survivor they find. Maybe points? Or weapons?

'No, that won't work. I don't wanna waste any points at all, since I want to buy another magic. That Red Magic seems promising, after all. As for the weapons, I said it myself, that they don't belong to anyone. They belong to the expedition. So I can't really give them away.'

He also couldn't make his zombies look for survivors. Putting aside whether people would follow the monsters to a supposedly safe haven, Nate could only control one at the moment. Two if he worked hard. The efforts of two people would be negligible considering the size of the search area.

After a few moments of digging around in his head, his eyes widened in realization.

"Magic!"

"Woah!" Ming, who just stood there observing Nate think was startled by his sudden exclamation.

Not wanting to waste time, Nate riled the mana within his body as he visualized what he wanted. He then released the energy toward the sky.

Despite it being called Black Magic, the illusions it could make could produce a little light. So he used his magic to form an illusion of an arrow pointing down at the village, with a message composed of extremely large letters above it.

[Safe Ground. Please make your way here quickly. Food, water, clothing, and living spaces available. Be careful of rabbit holes.]

"What the hell...?" Ming stared up at the sky in awe.

"It's so that those people fucking around in the woods can get here quicker. They might even feel grateful enough to join the expedition. You never know." Nate shrugged nonchalantly, but he was actually quite satisfied with his idea. Then he remembered something as he looked at Ming with a serious expression. "Ming, we're taking a day off tomorrow. A bunch of people got messed up in today's battle, after all. Also, fighting causes a lot of stress, both mental and physical, so they need the break. Miyu and I also need to practice our new Magic, so it's two birds with one stone. Three birds, if you consider the possibility that new arrivals will join the expedition."

"Got it. I'll tell the others." Ming smirked, waving his hand lazily as he walked off.

Nate watched his back get smaller and smaller, until it disappeared when he turned a corner. Feeling that the surrounding gazes were getting a bit uncomfortable, Nate turned toward his new pet.

"C'mon, Pig."

He made his way to the little hut he'd stayed in last night with the intent to use every second to increase his Black Magic proficiency.

Nate gave one last look toward the beacon he'd sent into the sky, then sighed.

'Work work work. It's never over...'